San Pío X

Third grade before their performance in the end of the year English festival.

I have worked at the primary school San Pío X in the suburb Majadahonda. The way our school has organized the four auxiliares that work there is to put two with the younger children and two with the older children. I have worked with the children in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. This can be challenging since the 1st graders only know a few basic vocabulary items, such as greetings, colors, and the first ten numbers. For me, though, the reward of seeing the progress they make in just a year, let alone the level they achieve in three after starting at such a low level, outweighs the challenges. My Spanish is also very advanced, which has been an asset to working with them and has made it much less challenging than it would be for some auxiliares. I understand what they’re saying and, because of their age, only a few of them put two and two together and realize that I actually know Spanish. By responding to them in English using the same words they have used in Spanish they learn an enormous amount of vocabulary everyday and begin incorporating the words they hear me use. My advanced level of Spanish also helps me to understand and identify specific areas that differ between the two languages, such as grammar, that we need to pay more attention to with the older kids. With the older kids I insist that they only speak to me in English if they are capable. My expectation from all my students is that they communicate with me in English to the best of their abilities. It is so important to set these communication boundaries since a big part of our role as the auxiliar is to promote their oral communication.